August 26, 2015

Welcome! I have another guest post to share today, this one using the Hugs and Smiles clear stamps from Joy Clair. As you can see, I haven't used any markers on this card! I've been watching the gorgeous watercolor creations that the fabulously talented Kay Miller makes, and I knew that I had to pull out my little Distress Ink cubes for this image. (She's a wizard with all things die-cut as well.) Thanks for being an inspiration, Kay!

These are the ink colors that I used, after heat embossing the floral corner image on watercolor paper with detail white embossing powder, and cutting and embossing it with a Spellbinders A-2 Matting Basics B die.

I tied a white cotton string around my little watercolored panel and popped it up with fun foam--easy-peasy!

Now for the fun part: Joy Clair is giving away a Hugs and Smiles stamp set, BUT you need to leave a comment <<<on the Joy Clair Blog>>> to be entered into the giveaway--NOT on my blog.(I truly appreciate comments, but I want to be SURE that YOU get a chance to win!)

August 25, 2015

Shocking, I know--posting two days in a row? I told you that I was trying to get back my head back in the game! :-) This Power Poppy Berry It digital image made me happy! I started by printing my Berry It image in a reddish-brown color, and the sentiment in a reddish-purple color. (If you're still trying to figure out how to print digital images in color, Julie Koerber has an excellent tutorial on that process HERE.)

Here I've colored my Copic Marker greens. (You can click on any picture to make it larger, as always.) In case you can't see the colors clearly enough, they are: YG01, YG03, YG17, G29, YG11, E81, E84, and E87.

How about those Copic REDS? Delicious! From left to right, I used: RV10, RV23, RV25, RV29, R39, and RV99. For the berries that aren't ripened, I used G40, E81, E84, and E87. I also used my Copic 0 Colorless Blender extensively to add highlights on my berries.

I still needed to do something with those two little raspberry blossoms. Since I was working on white paper, I knew that I would have to add some color around the blossoms in order to make them stand out. I used Copic YG00 and G40 in the flower centers, C1 to shade a bit within the flowers, and W0 on the outside of the flowers to make them pop as whiter. While I was pleased with the look of the image at this point, when I started trying to find a patterned paper in my stash that would work with the image, I had nothing that would work well. I found some pretty Bo Bunny Autumn Song paper that would almost work, but cream cardstock as a background would be better than white cardstock. What to do? Change the background, of course! I used my Copic YR30, YR31, and 0 markers to effect that change. (You can see what I did in the next picture down.)

In addition to the Copic markers listed above, I used two Spica Glitter pens on the stems and twiny-viney pieces: Mint and Melon. Finally, I used a Kirarina White Pearl WINK pen to add hard-edged highlight, and what a difference that little addition made! (Compare the two pictures above to see the difference.)I could get a softer-edged highlight using my Colorless Blender, but the white pen allowed me to get a really crisp, stark highlight.

From clean and white to cream and vintage--presto, change-o, thanks to my Copic YR30, YR31, and 0! Yes, I love this Power Poppy Berry It image--hope you've enjoyed it too. Would you like to see how others have handled this same image? The blogs below have featured Berry It today as well, and they've done a fabulous job!

August 24, 2015

Welcome! I suppose that before I mention "Hello, Autumn," I should first say, "Hello, readers!" It's been a while. . . Summer tends to disrupt schedules and take on a life of its own at our house, and I'm guessing that it may be that way at your house as well. Since posting last, I spent several days in Texas with my sister's little ones while she recuperated from surgery, and then we've been headed to two-a-day football practices with my fifteen-year-old since then. Perhaps most of you are already accustomed to the trappings that are part of high school life, but we've always home-schooled. . . until this year. I've, ahem, volunteered to work at the concession stand for the opening varsity football game this coming weekend. Pretty soon I'll be traveling again with Copic Workshops (Alexandria/Chantilly Virginia area on September 11-12, and Chicago/Schaumburg area on September 25-26). So, it's time to get my head back in the game!

Today and Wednesday I'm privileged to guest post for a new company, Joy Clair. I really enjoyed working with both of the sets of stamps that I used, and I hope that you will like them too! Today I've used the Joy Clair Hello, Autumn clear stamps set.

I stamped the leaf images on PTI Rustic Cream cardstock with Memento Rich Cocoa ink, then colored the leaves with the Copic markers shown above. See that little flower-shaped marker in the bucket? I used a Kirarina White Pearl Wink pen to add highlights to my leaves after finishing all of the coloring. (Think white gel pen that actually works!)

I used a Spellbinders Pierced Rectangles die to cut and emboss my focal sentiment, which I stamped with an old Kaleidecolor ink pad--anyone still have those except me? I love them! Rustic Twine, as well as Plum Pudding and Kraft cardstock, are from PTI. I used a generous application of distress ink on the edges to age my cardstock and give it an Autumn feel.

Would you like to see more creative projects with the Hello, Autumn clear stamps set? The blogs below all feature Hello, Autumn today--enjoy!

Finally, for a chance to WIN the Hello, Autumn stamp set, leave a comment telling where you found out about Joy Clair Stamps

August 05, 2015

Welcome! I'm headed down to Texas today to spend some Auntie time with my nieces and nephew. But I did get a few things made yesterday to share while I'm gone. Today's card is a Power Poppy digital image and sentiment, Sunflower Power. I took pictures as I colored--hope that helps! The tag sentiment is an acrylic stamp from Power Poppy's Good Thinking: Renewal stamp set.

I printed the image in brown ink, following the directions that the fabulous Julie Koerber posted HERE--thanks, Julie! Shown above are the Copic markers that I used for the Sunflower blossoms.

Next came the greenery (though I added shadows to all of these areas later).

Here are the Copics that I used on the sunflower center.

Here I've added some blue-violet Copic colors to deepen and cool shadow areas. (Step not shown here: I used a Copic B000 to add sky. You can see it in the next picture.)

I used a combination of dies--a couple of Spellbinders Standard Circles dies, paired with an MFT Cross-Stitched Circles die. Gingham patterned paper is from PTI's Harvest Gold pattern pack. My finished card size is 5" square. Would you like to see more of the Sunflower Power stamp set? I hope you get a chance to visit the blogs below for inspiration! Thanks for visiting today too. :-)

August 01, 2015

Welcome! This week I played along as one of the sample makers for a Splitcoaststampers Dare to Get Dirty Challenge (DTGD15StampmommaA). I'm not supposed to give away the specific challenge details in my post, but I'll tell you that I sketched my focal image rather than using a stamped image. I took stepped out pictures of the process, AND I'm attaching a .jpg version of my artwork at the end of the post so that you can color it some time, if you'd like. :-)

Here was my initial rough pencil sketch--very rough! I had taken a phone picture of some purple coneflowers (echinacea) when we were shopping at Home Depot a couple of weeks ago, and sketching the flowers from that picture seemed like a perfect way to add my own twist to Lori's challenge.

Next I used my Copic Warm Gray 0.1 Multiliner and inked over the penciled lines that I wanted to keep, and erased all of the pencil lines that I didn't need. (I could have used a black multiliner, but I wanted less of a lined look so that the coloring would be the focus.) My paper is X-Press It Blending Card.

I started with the petals--Copic Violets and Red Violet, as shown above.

Here I've added my greens. For some of the background areas in the greenery, I made it up as I went; so if you try to use my line work to color, feel free to invent as you go too ;-)

I worked on the flower centers here. I was happy with their roundedness, values, and color, but I still needed some highlights. Usually when I need to regain highlights, I resort to either my Copic colorless blender (if it's a small area that doesn't need a crisp white), or sometimes colored pencil if I do need a crisp shape.

For this piece, I tried a new-to-me tool, a Gold Kirarina Wink pen. You can see the gold metallic dots above. They are standing out a bit more than I needed, so after the gold ink was completely dry, I used my darker Copic colors (E49, RV99) to obscure the precise dots just a bit. (For more information on the Kirarina WiNK pens, look HERE.)

Here's what it looked like afterward--compared to the photo above. (As always, you can click on any picture to see it in a larger format.)

My card format is a 5" square. I REDUCED my original artwork to make it fit on a card front.

Free Artwork Files

I re-inked my artwork to try to clean up the lines a bit and make it more suitable for reduction in size, making the outlines thicker and the inner lines thinner. It's still hand-drawn though, so it's not as smooth as computer rendered artwork, if that matters to you.

Here is the .jpg file for a BLACK lined version of my original artwork: View this photo

Here is the .jpg file for a GRAY lined version of my original artwork: View this photo

I am happy to share these two files with you for your own personal use; they are not to be sold. If you use them in a public format (ex: a blog post), I would appreciate your linking to this post rather than re-distributing my files. Feel free to resize them as you wish; resizing can easily be accomplished in either a photo editing program or a word processing program. Thank you, and have fun!

If you'd like to join in the fun, here's a link that explains how to get involved in the Dirty Girl Fan Club Challenges. If you're already a member of the SCS Fan Club, you already have access to all of the challenges--go play! Thanks for visiting today,

My Art Journal Blog

FTC Disclosure Statement

In the spirit of full disclosure, I currently work as a freelance designer in some capacity for the following companies: Imagination International, Inc. (Copic Markers), My Favorite Things Stamps, and Power Poppy Stamps. While I am compensated by these companies, either monetarily or in product, I maintain the freedom as an independent designer to say what I truly think of the products that I use. I will not recommend something that I don't personally use and enjoy.